Antibacterial Effects of the Essential Oils of CommonlyConsumed Medicinal Herbs Using an In Vitro Model.

The chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from 10 commonly consumed herbs: Citrus aurantium, C. limon, Lavandula angustifolia, Matricaria chamomilla, Mentha piperita, M. spicata, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgaris and Salvia officinalis have been determined. The antibacterial activity of these oils and their main components; i.e. camphor, carvacrol, 1,8-cineole, linalool, linalyl acetate, limonene, menthol, a-pinene, b-pinene, and thymol were assayed against the human pathogenic bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Micrococcus flavus, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella enteritidis, S. epidermidis, S. typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. The highest and broadest activity was shown by O. vulgare oil. Carvacrol had the highest antibacterial activity among the tested components

The measurement of open apices of teeth to test chronological age of over 14-year-olds in living subjects

Age determination in living subjects is a problem of increasing interest in our community, due to the increasing numbers of individuals without identification papers, who have immigrated illegally or committed crimes, and for whom it is necessary to verify whether they have reached the age of 14 years in order to be charged legally. Although the most widespread methods for age estimation refer to skeletal or dental analysis, these methods do present some drawbacks for identification of the age of 14. The aim of the present study is to discriminate between children who are or are not 14 years of age or older by measuring the open apices of teeth. We evaluated the OPGs of 447 persons aged between 12 and 16 years, of Italian, Croatian and Slovenian nationality. For each individual, dental maturity was estimated using the number of the seven left permanent mandibular teeth with root development complete, and normalized measurement of the open apices of the third molar. The results revealed that an individual is considered to be 14 years of age or older if all seven left permanent mandibular teeth have closed apices and the normalized measurement of open apices of the third molar is lower than 1.1

Current research into brain barriers and the delivery of therapeutics for neurological diseases: a report on CNS barrier congress London, UK, 2017.

This is a report on the CNS barrier congress held in London, UK, March 22-23rd 2017 and sponsored by Kisaco Research Ltd. The two 1-day sessions were chaired by John Greenwood and Margareta Hammarlund-Udenaes, respectively, and each session ended with a discussion led by the chair. Speakers consisted of invited academic researchers studying the brain barriers in relation to neurological diseases and industry researchers studying new methods to deliver therapeutics to treat neurological diseases. We include here brief reports from the speakers

Penalty-free feasibility boundary convergent multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for the optimization of water distribution systems

This paper presents a new penalty-free multi-objective evolutionary approach (PFMOEA) for the optimization of water distribution systems (WDSs). The proposed approach utilizes pressure dependent analysis (PDA) to develop a multi-objective evolutionary search. PDA is able to simulate both normal and pressure deficient networks and provides the means to accurately and rapidly identify the feasible region of the solution space, effectively locating global or near global optimal solutions along its active constraint boundary. The significant advantage of this method over previous methods is that it eliminates the need for ad-hoc penalty functions, additional “boundary search” parameters, or special constraint handling procedures. Conceptually, the approach is downright straightforward and probably the simplest hitherto. The PFMOEA has been applied to several WDS benchmarks and its performance examined. It is demonstrated that the approach is highly robust and efficient in locating optimal solutions. Superior results in terms of the initial network construction cost and number of hydraulic simulations required were obtained. The improvements are demonstrated through comparisons with previously published solutions from the literature

Extracellular matrix and growth factor engineering for controlled angiogenesis in regenerative medicine

Blood vessel growth plays a key role in regenerative medicine, both to restore blood supply to ischemic tissues and to ensure rapid vascularization of clinical-size tissue-engineered grafts. For example, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is the master regulator of physiological blood vessel growth and is one of the main molecular targets of therapeutic angiogenesis approaches. However, angiogenesis is a complex process and there is a need to develop rational therapeutic strategies based on a firm understanding of basic vascular biology principles, as evidenced by the disappointing results of initial clinical trials of angiogenic factor delivery. In particular, the spatial localization of angiogenic signals in the extracellular matrix (ECM) is crucial to ensure the proper assembly and maturation of new vascular structures. Here, we discuss the therapeutic implications of matrix interactions of angiogenic factors, with a special emphasis on VEGF, as well as provide an overview of current approaches, based on protein and biomaterial engineering that mimic the regulatory functions of ECM to optimize the signaling microenvironment of vascular growth factors

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

MxA as a clinically applicable biomarker for identifying systemic interferon type I in primary Sjögren's syndrome

Objective: To establish an easy and practical assay for identifying systemic interferon (IFN) type I bioactivity in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). The IFN type I signature is present in over half of the pSS patients and identifies a subgroup with a higher disease activity. This signature is currently assessed via laborious expression profiles of multiple IFN type I-inducible genes. Methods: In a cohort of 35 pSS patients, myxovirus-resistance protein A (MxA) was assessed as a potential biomarker for ty

Distinct roles for the anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices during conflict between abstract rules

Distinct patterns of activity within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) reported in neuroimaging studies during tasks involving conflict between competing responses have often been cited as evidence for their key contributions to conflict-monitoring and behavioural-adaptation, respectively. However, supporting evidence from neuropsychological patients has been scarce and contradictory. We administered a well-studied analogue of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), designed to elicit conflict between two abstract rules, to a cohort of six patients with damage to ACC or dlPFC. Patients who had sustained more significant damage to the ACC were not impaired either on a measure of conflict cost nor on measures of conflict-induced behavioral adaptation. In contrast, damage to dlPFC did not affect the conflict cost measure but abolished the patients’ ability to adapt their behavior following exposure to conflict, compared to controls. This pattern of results complements the findings from non-human primates with more circumscribed lesions to ACC or dlPFC on the same task and provides converging evidence that ACC is not necessary for performance when conflict is elicited between two abstract rules, whereas dlPFC plays a fundamental role in behavioral adaptation

The restorative role of annexin A1 at the blood–brain barrier

Annexin A1 is a potent anti-inflammatory molecule that has been extensively studied in the peripheral immune system, but has not as yet been exploited as a therapeutic target/agent. In the last decade, we have undertaken the study of this molecule in the central nervous system (CNS), focusing particularly on the primary interface between the peripheral body and CNS: the blood–brain barrier. In this review, we provide an overview of the role of this molecule in the brain, with a particular emphasis on its functions in the endothelium of the blood–brain barrier, and the protective actions the molecule may exert in neuroinflammatory, neurovascular and metabolic disease. We focus on the possible new therapeutic avenues opened up by an increased understanding of the role of annexin A1 in the CNS vasculature, and its potential for repairing blood–brain barrier damage in disease and aging

TNFR1 inhibition with a nanobody protects against EAE development in mice

TNF has as detrimental role in multiple sclerosis (MS), however, anti-TNF medication is not working. Selective TNF/TNFR1 inhibition whilst sparing TNFR2 signaling reduces the pro-inflammatory effects of TNF but preserves the important neuroprotective signals via TNFR2. We previously reported the generation of a Nanobody-based selective inhibitor of human TNFR1, TROS that will be tested in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). We specifically antagonized TNF/TNFR1 signaling using TROS in a murine model of MS, namely MOG(35-55)-induced EAE. Because TROS does not cross-react with mouse TNFR1, we generated mice expressing human TNFR1 in a mouse TNFR1-knockout background (hTNFR1 Tg), and we determined biodistribution of Tc-99m-TROS and effectiveness of TROS in EAE in those mice. Biodistribution analysis demonstrated that intraperitoneally injected TROS is retained more in organs of hTNFR1 Tg mice compared to wild type mice. TROS was also detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of hTNFR1 Tg mice. Prophylactic TROS administration significantly delayed disease onset and ameliorated its symptoms. Moreover, treatment initiated early after disease onset prevented further disease development. TROS reduced spinal cord inflammation and neuroinflammation, and preserved myelin and neurons. Collectively, our data illustrate that TNFR1 is a promising therapeutic target in MS